“Denim Day” And Mussolini’s Granddaughter

Today is “Denim Day” and folks wore jeans as part of a public education effort on sexual assault crimes believe it or not because of Benito Mussolini’s granddaughter.

Back in February 1999, Italy’s Court of Cessation, which is that country’s highest appellate court, overturned a conviction in a rape case, ruling it was impossible for the woman in the case to have been raped because she was wearing jeans.

The ruling outraged people all over the world. Female members of the Italian Parliament, including Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of the infamous World War II Facist dictator, wore jeans to work to protest the ruling.

The idea caught on, with Denim Day being held each April (which is “Sexual Assault Awareness Month”) to draw attention to the fact that rape and sexual assault are serious matters.

Fascism was a 20th century invention. Benito Mussolini fancied himself a latter-day Caesar and named his governing style of centralized authority under an absolute dictator Fascism. The term refers to the Roman Empire’s symbol of strength and authority the fasces a bundle of rods bound around an axe. Fascism now refers to any government where the individual is wholly subordinate to the state.